


How Death Note Could Have Ended (Before It Even Started)

by Osiria_Rosebud



Category: Death Note & Related Fandoms, Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Comedy, Gen, Short Stories, This is mostly a joke, What-If
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osiria_Rosebud/pseuds/Osiria_Rosebud
Summary: A small collection of what-if scenarios, centering around the idea that the entire plot of Death Note could have never happened if just a few things went differently.Will update tags as I add chapters.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Ryuk Forgets One Important Thing About Earth

Ryuk Forgets One Important Thing About Earth

In hindsight, dropping his ~~stolen~~ ~~snatched~~ spare Death Note on a whim wasn’t Ryuk’s brightest idea.

It was the sort of thing he did because putting any thought into it would have been too much of a hassle, and—to be fair—he didn’t really _care_ where the Death Note ended up, just as long as it ended up in a place where it could be retrieved; preferably by a human, and preferably one that didn’t have too many moral objections to using the notebook. He’d wanted to stick around for a little bit, even if the human who picked up the notebook was a stick in the mud, because getting out of the Shinigami realm was a treat for him, and the point of throwing the Death Note down in the first place was to get away from everyone else for a few days. Ryuk had planned on staying for a few weeks at least, maybe a month, perhaps a year or two depending on who picked up the notebook—

But he’d forgotten one teensy, tiny, absolutely critical detail when he dropped that Death Note, and that was that—unlike the Shinigami realm—the human world was full of life, and consequently it was full of water.

Like, a lot of water. Too much water. Water that spread out across most of the Earth’s surface, in fact, which might have been an interesting tidbit to learn and immediately forget about if he hadn’t just thrown his well-earned extra Death Note into the ocean.

Now, if he’d managed to hit land, he would have been able to grab the Death Note and try again and again until he got bored or someone found it. The Death Note could take quite a beating under most circumstances. A little mud wouldn’t hurt it.

But the entire ocean? Different story.

Oceans were full of rocks, and water, and fish, and trash, and more water. There was no shortage of things that would shred, saturate, erode, and/or consume the notebook Ryuk had spent his precious time obtaining. The destruction of the notebook wouldn’t be immediate, either, which meant that Ryuk was going to be stuck on Earth waiting for the stupid thing to finally dissolve in the stomach of some random creature or whatever before he got to go back to the Shinigami realm to swindle another Death Note from another Shinigami.

What a waste of his time.

(There weren’t even any apples near the ocean)


	2. Turn It Off; I Need To Get To Class

_Thirty-seven… thirty-eight… thirty-nine…_

_Forty._

The reporters on screen continued talking amongst themselves. It was little more than a jumble of meaningless platitudes. They said that they hoped all of the hostages would make it out safely, as if there was something special and unique about the sentiment. Light tuned it out along with the rest of the background noise, choosing to pay attention to nothing but the passing seconds.

_Forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four—_

Nothing. The reporters moved on to the next story in their lineup.

Light released the breath that he’d unconsciously been holding. The notebook he’d found earlier was lying open on his desk, with the singular name _Otoharada Kurou_ scrawled across the top line on the first page, right alongside the list of rules of how the notebook—the Death Note—worked.

Or rather, how it didn’t work.

He turned the television off. The small sense of unease he had over using the Death Note was swallowed by a mixture of satisfaction, disappointment, and humiliation.

The notebook was a joke—a gag—just as he suspected and summarily proven. It was foolish to think that it could have actually worked; a few lines on a page did not make for a logical murder weapon, and it was arguably no more sensible than any chain email prank or childish magic spell. A notebook that killed the people whose names were written in it was simply impossible according to all known laws of the universe.

Of course, if it had worked, then all of those hostages would be safe, and there’d be one less criminal out on the streets…

But that sort of thinking was unacceptable. One person acting as judge, jury, and executioner wasn’t how the world worked. Light wasn’t in a position to act as any one of those three, much less all of them at once. It wouldn’t have mattered if his actions led to the hostages making it out safely; it would have still been considered an act of murder under the current system.

If the current system even entertained the idea of magic killing notebooks, that is.

Which it wouldn’t, because honestly, who’d believe in such things?

Light glanced over at the clock and, realizing how little time he had left before cram school started, started gathering up what he needed for the night. He threw the Death Note in on top of his regular school supplies before he reconsidered. It was a free notebook, but there was no way he’d be able to bring it out in public without having someone ask what it is, and frankly, he didn’t ever want to need to explain why he nearly fell for such an obvious prank. He could keep it at home, but then he’d be reminded of his childish decision to test out the rules listed inside the notebook every time that he looked at it.

So, he didn’t want to keep it. It wasn’t really his, anyway, and it wasn’t a waste of his own money. Maybe someone else would find a use for it.

He ended up abandoning the notebook in the bushes outside of his cram school, figuring that maybe someone else would get a laugh out of it, or appreciate the free paper. At any rate, he was glad to finally get rid of—

Rid of something.

Light blinked. Classes had ended. He usually went right home, as it was close enough to walk, but he was hanging around the front of the cram school with the students who needed transportation. He’d been thinking about something, but had lost that train of thought.

That was… odd.

Odd, but not concerning. It was late, and he’d just gotten out of cram school after being stuck inside of regular high school all day. It was only natural that he’d be more exhausted than usual, and forgetting a minor thing or two was the consequence of not getting enough rest. Besides, he only forgot things that were unimportant; whatever he’d been thinking of couldn’t have mattered that much in the long run.

He went back home, trying not to think too much about whatever he'd forgotten.

* * *

The hostage situation from the previous night was still all over the news. None of the hostages had gotten hurt, thankfully; in fact, they had escaped without any negotiations being made with Otoharada, as the man had keeled over a few minutes after he’d entered the building. The hostages said that he clutched at his chest before he died, as if he’d had a heart attack.

Light was glad to hear that everyone was safe, of course, but he didn’t give the event much thought over the next week. One crime amidst a thousand others had no reason to be remembered by people who weren’t involved. It had no relevance to him whatsoever.

Like so many other short-term memories before, Light discarded it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this addition to the story!

**Author's Note:**

> Just so you know, this story should probably be around five chapters in length. I don't know when I'll be posting the next chapter, but I expect that it will be around the same length as this one.  
> Thanks for reading!


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